Izard County man arrested for child pornography

A 63-year-old Izard County man was arrested after investigators with cyber crimes unit of the Arkansas State Attorney General's Office say he admitted to searching for, downloading and viewing child pornography.

Steven Truman Eldridge was arrested on four charges of distributing, possessing or viewing matter depicting sexually explicit conduct involving a child. Each charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years upon conviction.

Investigators wrote in an affidavit that during November of last year, they identified an IP address that was offering to download or distribute known child pornography. File names gave graphic descriptions and included information that would identify participants as young children.

Over the course of the next five months, investigators served subpoenas to Eldridge's internet provider and identified him as the individual who owned the account using the relevant IP address.

In April of this year, investigators went to Eldridge's Melbourne home and asked him about the matter. As they approached the home, Eldridge reportedly came out on the porch to meet them.

When they told him they were there conducting an investigation, Eldridge reportedly told them he had been having problems with his computer displaying "pop up" ads, invited the agents in and asked for help with his computer.

With Eldridge's consent, an investigator began searching one of the man's computers. While the investigator worked on the computer, Eldridge explained a friend of his who had been in prison but was now dead used the computer and that's when the pop up ads began appearing.

The investigator explained to Eldridge the child pornography he found was accessed recently and was not the result of pop up ads. The investigator explained to Eldridge the files had been accessed much more recently than his friend's 2016 death.

Eldridge agreed to be interviewed and eventually admitted to investigators that he searched for and downloaded child pornography approximately three or four times per week.

The man told investigators he needed help to break his addiction to child pornography, an addiction Eldridge said began when his wife left him. He reportedly told investigators he was thankful he had never taken the step of becoming "physical" with a child.